


The Void Principality

by TadaCal13



Category: Warhammer Fantasy, ゼロの使い魔 | Zero no Tsukaima | The Familiar of Zero
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:20:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29637315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TadaCal13/pseuds/TadaCal13
Summary: Fear of failure causes Louise to seek the knowledge that insures she succeeds in her summoning ritual. Though sometimes failure is the best teacher, no matter how far it takes you because some knowledge is best kept hidden.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

"Too far." A small blue-haired girl voiced.

"I was just trying to give her one last push for tomorrow's ceremony, Tabitha!" Her taller red-haired compatriot argued half-heartedly. The duo was making their way toward a certain pink haired brats' room, in the red-haired girl's own words.

"Her eyes, Kirche." Tabitha finished.

_'I know I should have stopped when Louise started tearing up but... Ugh, now I'm just making excuses for myself.'_ Kirche thought, reprimanding herself

__

Though she didn't outwardly reply, Tabitha could see her companion's shoulders slump slightly. Seeing as her companion was lost in thought, she went back to her book as they continued to their destination. It wasn't long until Tabitha heard jogging footsteps coming from around the corner, which was soon revealed to be one of the academy's maids. Who abruptly stopped after seeing the two nobles.

__

"Oh! Apologies my ladies." The maid quickly bowed.

__

"Hmm? Oh, it's of no concern servant!" Kirche responded cheerfully, the meeting causing her to exit her stupor.

__

"I apologize again my ladies, but I need to alert staff on the wellbeing of one of the students." The maid said urgently in a polite tone.

__

"Trouble?" Questioned Tabitha.

__

"Not yet my lady but just in case, I wish to notify one of the staff."

__

"Does the student in question happen to have pink hair?" Kirche cut in.

__

"Well yes Ms. Zerbst, she does." The maid answered to Kirche's surprise.

__

"You know of me, maid?"

__

"Yes Ms. Zerbst, the academy only has the privilege of teaching a few Germanian nobles."

__

"Then it's only polite if I get your name as well, but if we could start making our way to Louise's room please." Kirche said, signaling the maid to lead the way.

__

"It's Siesta, Ms. Zerbst." Siesta replied, a little shocked at the noble's willingness to get to know her name.

__

"Just Kirche, Siesta. My cute little companion here is Tabitha de Orleans." Kirche said, beckoning to Tabitha. Siesta looked to the blue haired noble, who gave her a polite nod.

__

"It's an honor, Ms. Orleans." Siesta curtsied.

__

"Just Tabitha."

__

"Oh, umm, well it's an honor, Tabitha." Siesta replied, surprise gracing her face once again.

__

"Now Siesta, why are you worried about our little ol' Louise." Kirche asked. While unnoticed to the maid, Tabitha could hear the worry in her voice.

__

"I've been on call to Ms. Valliere since midday, my lad-"

__

Kirche interrupted with a fake cough.

__

"Err since midday, Kirche. Though after delivering one last meal to her dorm, I noticed something that didn't feel...safe? I suppose would be the term." Siesta finished.

__

"Why?" Tabitha asked quaintly.

__

"Well...I'm just a commoner, my-"

__

Kirche coughed again.

__

"Umm, Tabitha, but there was a large..." Siesta paused looking for a certain word. "Magical circle in her room when she opened her doors for my delivery. I wasn't really able to tell much about the purpose but everything inside just felt...off I suppose."

__

Siesta's comments set the two on edge, making them quicken their pace. While commoners couldn't understand all the intricacies of magic, they weren't blind to it and they could still feel its energy. So those were clear tale signs of something bad.

__

"It only felt off when her doors were open?" Tabitha asked, to which Siesta nodded in agreement.

__

"You don't think Louise would do anything rash, right Tabitha? Clearly just a practice circle?" Kirche asked, the nervousness in her voice clear to even the maid now. Before Tabitha could even answer, Kirche quickly questioned Siesta.

__

"How much further until Louise's room?"

__

"Actually, not much, it's that door there." Siesta pointed, causing Kirche to sprint with the other two right behind. As she got closer, the trio felt an overwhelming sense of unease from behind her door. Kirche tried opening the door but to no avail, so she just started pounding her fists on the door.

__

"LOUISE OPEN THE DOOR; WE NEED TO TALK!"

__

As Kirche screamed, Tabitha pressed her ear against the wall to see if she could hear anything. She was only greeted with muffled noises to Tabitha's concern, the noise did not sound naturally muffled as it should have been from the wall. Chanting a 'Detect Magic' spell, her eyes widened as she saw that not just Louise's room was being charmed but the entire hallway but especially around her door. She cast a freezing spell on Louise's doorknob, surprising the other two, only for the ice to rapidly melt.

__

"What? DAMN IT, ZERO, DON'T MAKE ME BLOW OPEN THIS DOOR!" Kirche screamed, pounding the door even more frantically after seeing Tabitha's spell get deflected.

__

"Why isn't the disturbance waking any of the neighbors?" Siesta questioned openly, Kirche still yelling past the door.

__

"Hopefully, a sleeping spell." Tabitha answered, though currently in thought as her 'Detect Magic' was still in play. She had noticed the magic slightly dip at Kirche's use of 'Zero'.

__

"Kirche insult her."

__

"-PELLED! Huh? You want me to? Oh, okay." Kirche asked confusingly but quickly went with it.

__

"WHOEVER'S IN THERE WITH ZERO BETTER OPEN THE DOOR BECAUSE CLEARLY THIS ISN'T HER DOING."

__

Tabitha could see the magic floating around shimmer.

__

"THAT PINK CUTTING BOARD OF A CHEST COULDN'T-"

__

"KIRCHE SHUT YOUR TOP-HEAVY HAG MOUTH UP!"

__

The spell around the door weakened to a point that Tabitha was able to use a wind blast to blow the door open. They ran in, but were greeted with a heavy atmosphere of magic. Louise looked at them, a tint of frustration cracking her otherwise expressionless face. Tabitha noticed her eyes had a glazed look, but they seemed to be reverting back to normal as she stared at them.

__

"Wait, what's happening?" Louise asked still in a daze.

__

"Are you okay Ms. Valliere?" Siesta anxiously asked.

__

While Louise's demeanor was worrying, what worried the mages the most was the ominous feeling coming from the magic circle.

__

"Tabitha, would do we do?" Kirche asked the bluenette, who was analyzing the situation. Louise seemed to gaze at the circle for a bit before finally coming out of her trance.

__

"...oh...OH NO, FIREBALL!" Before the trio could even react, Louise cast a spell at the circle hoping to snuff it at. Breaking part of the circle, the energy in the room seemed to still for a moment. Then, suddenly, the room rumbled violently as a book on Louise's desk flew off into the middle of the now broken spell circle. The atmosphere tensed, as the circle seem to suck all the energy from the room creating a vortex in the middle of it. As more of the magic in the room disappeared, the vortex grew more and more violent until the entire room erupted in dust and light.  
[hr][/hr]  
Only the sound of coughing was evident as the cloud of smoke started to settle and their vision slowly began to readjust.

__

"By the Founder, Zero what was that?" Kirche asked

__

"I... I don't really remember, my memories seem choppy. The last thing I remember, is finding that book. That STUPID BOOK!" Louise answered angrily, though more at the situation than the question itself.

__

"What was the book?" Tabitha asked, remembering the book in question that flew off Louise's desk.

__

"It was just a book on theories about summoning. It was-"

__

"Well, well, well, it seems the Gods grace us with even more gifts." A grateful sounding voice cut her off.

__

As the dust finally settled the group of girls stiffened as they realized that not only were they no longer in Louise's room, but they were now surrounded causing the trio of mages to go on guard. The speaker in question was of clear nobility, actually now looking closely, most of those surrounding them were in wears to upper class for most commoners. But the speaker's staff confirmed he was clearly a mage.

__

"Heretics." Louise whispered to herself, already on edge from the speaker's statement about gods. Kirche pulled Siesta between her and her fellow nobles. Tabitha began to ready a spell as she had counted ten amongst their numbers and hoped those unaccounted for outside weren't many more. Looking around, she could make out at least one feminine body laid out toward the back of the room, with only her bare leg visible. The strangers near her, in a state of undress.

__

"First the Architect of Fate graces us with this book of knowledge and now our offering to the Dark Prince has been so kindly reimbursed." The unknown mage spoke reverently. His words unsettled them greatly, with Louise glaring at the familiar book in his hand. Kirche forced on her most charming smile as she decided to try and hopefully defuse the situation. She gave a polite bow of the head as curtesy dictated before speaking.

__

"Greetings my lord, I am Lady Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst the Argent of Germania. My cohorts are -" Kirche paused to allow the other members to introduce themselves.

__

"Chevalier Tabitha de Orleans of Gallia." Tabitha announced with a bow.

__

"Lady Louise Francoise la Blanc de la Valliere of Tristain and this is our servant Siesta." Louise informed with a bow but almost stuttered at the beginning of her introduction at Tabitha title as a chevalier. Siesta curtsied before Kirche finished their introduction.

__

"It would seem our spell miscast, and we now find ourselves in this unknown location. I hope you give us our due of hospitality until we find our way home."

__

"Greetings to you as well my ladies, I am Baron Ottokarl von Kochberg of Middenland and I welcome you to Vitrolle." The baron greeted with a small bow in return.

__

"Vitrolle, Baron Kochberg?" Kirche asked.

__

"Do you recognize those names Tabitha?" Louise whispered.

__

"No."

__

While Middenland sounded a bit Germanian to Louise, their current company were too fair skinned to be Germanians.

__

"It's Baron von Kochberg, Lady von Anhalt-Zerbst but it's our small little piece of the Borderlands near the World's Edge Mountains. Though I must inform you that I'm unfamiliar with the lands you've mentioned." Baron von Kochberg said, confirming them of their creeping suspicions.

__

"Apologies for my mistake Baron von Kochberg, and you may use von Zerbst or just Zerbst if it pleases you. We hope our stay here in Middenland isn't too bothersome." Kirche said, though her face faltered for a second as the rest of the foreigners laughed.

__

"This shithole isn't Middenland." One of the unknown men shouted.

__

Baron von Kochberg raised a hand, causing the rest of the group to quiet themselves.

__

"I must apologize for my subordinates, Lady von Zerbst. I should have been more specific on our whereabouts. The 'country' we currently reside in, are known as the Borderlands. Our homeland is farther north past the Black Mountains, unfortunately we may no longer reside there in peace."

__

Kirche smile faltered a second time, with Louise and Tabitha giving each other a knowing look. His statement meant that even if this land followed foreign gods, their company in question weren't even welcome in their home country. Meaning any kind of diplomacy with them could be a danger to themselves.

__

"It's of no consequence Baron, our nations and families would be grateful to any who would give us shelter." Kirche responded.

__

The Baron studied them for a bit before talking.

__

"I would love to give the hospitality you deserve my ladies...but we are in trying times and now I must ask if you have given yourselves to the True Powers?" His tone was almost sad, for reasons unknown to them.

__

"True Powers my lord?" Kirche asked, her voice straining from the reality of how the situation looked to be turning.

__

"I must apologize once again my ladies, it was a welcome relief to interact with fellow nobles but...that answers all we need to know. I suggest you ladies surrender peacefully...though my subordinates look like they would rather you put up a fight." The mage's eye betraying his hardened tone. While a tint of fear was evident in Louise's eyes, she ironed her will before declaring against them.

__

"WE WILL NOT SURRENDER TO YOU HEATHENS! WE ARE FOLLOWERS OF BRIMIR!"

__

Before Louise even finished her statement, Baron von Kochberg's hand erupted upward. A torrent of darkness shooting forth from his staff that was blocked by Kirche, who hastily shot forth her own torrent of fire. The clash of magic ended abruptly when a large javelin of ice bust through the foreign mage's skull.

__

"KILL THOSE WIZARDS!"

__


	2. Chapter 2

"KILL THOSE WIZARDS!"

To Louise's shame, she immediately froze when the baron's dark magic shot towards them. It wasn't until the sound of one of his ally's orders did she snap out of it, causing her to instinctively shoot at the nearest foreigner.

"Fireball!" The unprepared man was blasted backwards and slammed into the stone foundation, knocking him out.

Tabitha shot forth two more ice javelins at the only armored individuals in the room, probably the personal guards of the now dead baron. They immediately raised their shields at the projectile darting toward their chests. One was able to block the icicle, only for him to fly backwards from the force of the impact. His companion wasn't so lucky, as he had inadvertently deflected the projectile into his neck. The icicle going clean through, as he fell to floor gurgling for his life.

Kirche turned around sharply, setting her sights on the foreigners in the back of the room. Her eyes widened at the sight of an axe flying at her face.

Louise hastily shot the axe down, causing Kirche to retaliate with a serpent of fire at the axe-thrower in front of the half wall. The woman immediately slumped into the wall as the serpent burst through her chest.

The surviving guard was hardly able to stand before getting pinned to the floor by another javelin piercing his foot. Tabitha then cast a spell of silence, causing his screams to never leave his mouth.

Three others behind the half wall rushed out of their cavern towards Kirche, with one almost tripping over the unmoving female near them. Another by the back exit rushed in to join them but, unfortunately for him, did trip and fall.

Kirche aimed her wand at the trio with three flame serpents shooting forth. The front most assailant ducked low, almost into a crouch, skillfully dodging the incoming projectiles. His two companions weren't as lucky and were instantly felled, the serpents tearing through them easily. Before the survivor could even take another step, he was blasted backwards by a 'fireball'.

Kirche thanked the pinkette quickly, before finishing him off with a final serpent. She aimed her wand at the man who had tripped earlier. Only to grimace, as his head had already been bludgeoned in. A horseshoe imbedded in his skull. Glancing to the side of the deceased, Kirche raised an eyebrow at a man in simple clothes just sitting there. She then quickly checked her side of the room again for any other hostiles.

"Clear on my side." Kirche stated, the distaste of the previous sight evident in her tone.

"Clear." Tabitha replied, after freezing the pinned guard in place.

"That was quick." Louise whispered to herself, heart still pacing from the battle. She turned to Siesta only to see the maid crouched down hugging her knees. Eyes closed and probably in that position since the fight had started.

"Siesta, maybe keep your eyes closed for a bit longer." Louise recommended. A wave of sickness beginning to turn up from discovering the squashed in head.

"Yes, Ms. Valliere." Siesta squeaked.

As Siesta and Louise talked, Kirche walked up to their foreign ally.

"Now, who are you?" Kirche said in a sing-song voice as she crouched in front of the man.

"It's Fedde, milady." The man said dejectedly.

Kirche gave him a half-smile, seeing his emotionless expression.

"Well, Fedde, thank you for the assistance."

Louise decided to try an assist as Kirche questioned the man. Looking around, she noticed a flight of stairs past the dead mage's body leading downward. The room was strangely windowless, she thought about checking downstairs. Seeing Tabitha already in that direction, she decided to check the other end past Kirche. She grabbed Siesta's hand, causing the girl to give a small squeal.

"Oh, sorry Siesta, let's get you to a more comfortable spot."

Guiding Siesta to the wall near Kirche and the commoner, she sat the maid down on a crate.

"Thank you, Ms. Valliere."

Louise responded politely before walking passed the sitting trio. She glanced at the dead assailants as she went to check the back exit, to see if their commotion had brought any further attention.

"Louise," Tabitha interrupted.

Louise looked back to see Tabitha levitating her unconscious victim in the frozen guard's direction. Raising an eyebrow in question, she was only answered by the bluenette's glance toward the half wall. Tabitha then proceeded to freeze the unconscious man with the guard.

Confused, she followed the girl's glance, only for her stomach to drop. Her position at the beginning of the attack had prevented her from seeing what stood behind the wall. Now she could clearly see at least two female bodies.

_'Breath Louise...just breathe.'_

Steeling herself, she walked into the open room. Only to visibly pale further at the full site.

_'Ru-rule of steel, rule of steel, rule of steel'_ Louise repeatedly thought. 

The open room held five bodies: a man and four girls, two of them being in womanhood. Plates of food, cups of liquids, and strong-smelling candles were scattered around the room. The dead man sat trouser-less, arms chained on the wall. His shirt was soaked with blood coming from the large chunk of flesh missing from his neck. The four girls seemed to be positioned from smallest to tallest. All of them laying by the back wall; bite marks, bruises, and cuts covering their naked bodies. Though the site was haunting, a very pleasing smell invaded her nostrils. It wasn't until she heard approaching footsteps that Louise finally looked away.

As Tabitha walked up to the pinkette, her eyes narrowed at the grisly site. She then focused her sights on the lone lit candle, as the smell enter her senses. She quickly snuffed the candle out with a light breeze from her wand and turned to Louise.

"Err...sorry." Louise apologized as she looked back to the scene.

Only to start feeling queasy again, remembering what she was inspecting. After a second, Louise's queasiness was replaced with a sense of dread at how familiar the four looked.

"Besides their hair color, and her being a lot fairer skinned, they look almost exactly like us; she even looks exactly like the maid!" Louise whispered urgently, pointing at the body resembling Siesta.

Tabitha hummed in thought for a moment before answering.

"Later, cover the bodies for now."

"What, why?"

"Still in unknown territory, also respectful."

Louise seemed to chastise herself before agreeing. Tabitha gazed at the scene a final time before checking the exit near them.

Slowly opening the door, she was greeted by a very ornate wooden tower and the sound of a rushing river. The tower's presence was ominous in front of the dark skies, the moons unseen from her side of the building. It seemed that they were on the second floor, as a walkway from the tower's corresponding floor led to the other side of their building. She could see another building further past that, with a partial sight of a picket fenced area near that building.

Looking down, she saw that the door opened onto another walkway, though she couldn't see exactly where it led without exposing herself. Inspecting the ground level once more, she could see some people on patrol. Though they were quite far away and shouldn't suspect anything if she kept her composure. Creaking the door open a little more, she slowly peaked her head behind the door.

Only to immediately yank her head back in. Unfortunately, as she went for a look, the door of the linked opposing building began to open. Though she was at least able to glean a few more details. The walkway she was on led to another building by the village entrance. The village was clearly well fortified, the walls seem to be an additional floor high. She also spotted at least three other buildings past the tower and village entrance. She slowly closed the rest of the door and went to warn the others.

"We'll have company soon."

"How many?" Louise asked grimly as she walked toward her. She seemed to be wiping her hands off with her cape.

"Unsure." Tabitha replied as she positioned herself to face the exit door.

"Well, if it's not one thing, it's another." Kirche added, finally done with her previous conversation.

"What are we going to do about the patrol?" Louise asked.

"Wait for them to come in," Tabitha finished.

"It should only be one guard coming through." Kirche added, causing Tabitha and Louise to raise an eyebrow.

"Fedde said that the cultists only have three guards patrolling the walkways of the village. Another four on the roads and another six patrolling the wall, four of those in the towers at the village entrances."

"Population?" Tabitha asked.

"Should be around fifty now, plus thirty-one slaves."

"Slaves?" Louise echoed in a disgusted tone, quickly glancing at Fedde by the exit.

"Fedde says their village was taken over by these cultists around two years ago. There was actually a lot more cultists before, but there was a skirmish and a failed retaliation against some orcs, about a month ago." Kirche explained.

"Orcs!?"

"They populate most of lands down south and some make their homes in the nearby mountains."

"And what's with the cult, why aren't the local authorities doing anything to protect their people?"

"The Borderlands is more of a loose confederation than an actual country. Petty kings and lesser lords scramble to control whatever they can get their grubby hands on."

"So, not so different from Germania then." Louise replied with a small smirk.

"WHY, Y-"

Before Kirche could finish her reply, the exit door began to open, causing all the girls to aim their wands at it.

"When I grab him, silence him." Tabitha ordered.

Kirche nodded in response. As soon as the door fully opened, Tabitha cast her levitation spell and pulled the surprised guard inside.

"OYE THE FU-"

The guard was quickly silenced by the redhead. Fedde then quickly walked to the door and checked outside before closing it, giving a nod to the girls. Tabitha walked away from the group taking the frantic floating man to her duo of frozen prisoners.

"Sorry...so what now, how are we going to rescue the villagers?" Louise said sheepishly.

Kirche looked at the smaller mage, with a raised eyebrow of surprise before giving her a proud smile.

"What was that look for Zerbst, did you think I was just going to leave these commoners to their fate? We're nobles, are we not!" Louise said with an aggravated tone.

"Now, now my little Louise, don't get so offended." Kirche laughed, only aggravating Louise further.

Though before Louise could react, Tabitha rejoined the two others.

"Fedde." Tabitha spoke, beckoning the commoner to join their meeting. Without skipping a beat, Fedde joined the trio of mages.

"Could you draw a layout of the village." Tabitha asked, causing the man to look for something to use.

"Just use your finger dear, I'll trace after you." Kirche said, the tip of her wand shooting a tiny blaze.

"Thank you, milady. If you could draw a large circle." Fedde replied.

Kirche took her wand and scorched a large circle into the ground. Fedde then proceeded to sign a rectangle in the lower left edge of the circle, which Kirche quickly followed with her wand.

"We're here in the stables, miladies. The buildings closest north are the blacksmiths to the left. Which is empty at night and the town hall-slash-temple in the middle of the village. That's where the rest of their wizards reside, they only have one wizard out of their tower at a time."

"Wizards?" Louise said to herself, the word sounding strange on her tongue.

"How many of them do they have?"

"I'm not exactly sure milady. Aside from Baron von Kochberg there, I'd say I've seen three others."

The girls frowned at the number of mages they still had to deal with. Tabitha then knelt to etch some more lines above and right of the tower to show what she originally saw around the village. Fedde proceeded to explain what they were while filling out the rest of the map.

"These three buildings north are the storehouse and the barracks. The storehouse has a couple of guards. And there's actually three barracks, another one past this one. They have about thirteen people in each barrack, four of those are always villagers. East of the barracks behind the tower is the refectory. The two sites you pointed to here are the tannery and the animal-slash-slave pens." Fedde said with a visible hint of disdain on the last part.

"How many guarding the villagers?" Tabitha asked.

"Four; they're typically the heaviest equipped, but you're wizards. After that, you have: four guarding the towers by the entrances, one on the north wall, one on the south wall, the four on the roads and then the two left patrolling the walkways." Fedde finished.

"We need to take out the patrols quickly and quietly, so we don't wake the rest of the town," Kirche said.

"Should we free the villagers first, they could help with the cultists?" Louise questioned.

"They've been enslaved for two years, Valliere. They're probably not in the best shape."

"They also still outnumber the villagers and have three mages as well." Tabitha added.

"And there's still villagers scattered around," Louise finished in a defeated tone.

"Kirche, Louise take Fedde and Siesta downstairs and wait for my signal." Tabitha said as she put on her hood.

"Now hold on Tabitha, what makes you think you're going to do this alone." Kirche demanded.

"Fire magic is too noticeable."

"Err, yeah, but..." Kirche stuttered in response.

"Obviously Kirche, which is why I shou-" Louise began to speak before she was cut off.

"Explosions are too loud," Tabitha replied quickly cutting off Louise.

"But, I'm-"

"This isn't about your skill. This needs to be done as quickly and quietly as possible."

The two taller nobles sat quietly, taking their silence for confirmation of her plan. Tabitha turned to the exit behind her to leave.

"Wait, Tabby." Kirche said grabbing the smaller girls' hand, causing her to turn and raise an eyebrow.

"What if we cause a distraction to bring them here!"

"That doesn't sound like a very good idea," Louise replied with an extremely unsure voice.

"No... I mean look, if we cause an explosion next to-" Kirche glanced at the open room. "Well to that, we should be able to bring some more cultist closer without tipping them off to the fact it wasn't an accident!"

"...I'm going to need you to explain your logic on that Kirche." Louise answered with a stupefied expression, with Tabitha giving an unsure look this time as well.

"Oh, right. Silly me" Kirche laughed.

"Fedde told me that the baron was here because some of their people got greedy during a raid and tried to keep the spoils of their plunder to themselves," Kirche followed up, pausing so the other could follow along.

"And since no one in the village heard the fight somehow, we still have the element of surprise," said Kirche.

"Yeah, but wouldn't causing an explosion defeat that entire purpose of being stealthy?" Louise asked.

"...Not if we can keep the explosion down to a certain level," Tabitha responded thoughtfully.

"It needs to be big enough to draw the closest guards in our vicinity," Kirche followed up.

"And not so big that it wakes the entire town... But I've never actually tried controlling the size of my blasts before!" Louise said in a panic.

"Louise, we know you can do this," Kirche said supportively.

Louise was silent for a bit before she nodded in agreement, then looked toward Fedde.

"Fedde, take Siesta downstairs and find a place for you two to hide," Louise ordered.

"Yes milady." Fedde nodded, then gestured for the maid to follow him.

"Be safe, my ladies." Siesta curtsied to the three nobles, before following Fedde.

"I told her to use our names." Kirche said to herself, watching as Fedde picked up the sword and shield from the dead bodyguard, before descending the stairs. She moved her sights back to Tabitha when she heard the girl say her name.

"Kirche, help me move the bodies from the wall."

"I kind of saw a leg sticking out of the room, are they the 'offerings'?" Kirche asked, looking back at Louise who seemed to be trying to hype herself up.

"It would seem so."

Kirche face scrunched in disgust, as she turned back to the open room. Her look of disgust turned into one of sadness once she saw the five bodies. The silhouettes of four feminine figures were hidden under a giant tarp. Kirche grimaced at the man on the adjacent half wall whose chained up body wasn't as concealed. A dirtied shirt giving him a bit of modesty, covering his groin, contrasting the large chunk of flesh missing from his neck.

As Kirche finished analyzing the scene, Tabitha cast a freezing spell on the dead man's chains that held his arms up. Another spell from her shattered the chains, causing the body to slump to the side.

"Kirche if you could cut the tarp, at least in half. We can take them two at a time then." Tabitha asked as she levitated the dead man to her.

As Tabitha took the corpse out of the room, Kirche crouched in the middle of the four remaining bodies. Hearing a pair of footsteps approaching, she turned her head slightly to see Louise.

"Are you ready Valliere?" Kirche asked as she went back to her assignment.

"Yeah..." Louise replied awkwardly.

Kirche noted her awkward pause as she used the bright blaze from her wand to cut through the tarp.

"...have you seen them?"

"The bodies? No, why would I want to?" Kirche replied as she stood back up.

Before Louise could respond, Tabitha came back. Kirche and her then levitated the two smaller bodies out of the room. Kirche eyeing Louise, as she seemed to be staring at the taller of the two bodies they were taking out.

"Tabitha, is there something wrong with the bodies?"

Tabitha sighed heavily at the question. Waiting for a reply, Kirche noticed a body that had been draped over with a small blanket. It was probably the corpse from the room. As they got closer to the corpse, they gradually lowered the girls next to him.

"Is it bad?" Kirche asked.

Tabitha paused.

"Yes, but we should deal with it after we're safe."

As they walked back to the open room, they saw Louise jump. Only to fumble sloppily and try to cover the face of one of the bodies back up. Turning around sharply at them, she had an embarrassed look on her face, but didn't try to explain her actions.

"Come on, let's take the other two. Louise, are you ready?" Tabitha asked, completely ignoring the scene they just witnessed.

"Yeah, YES! Yes, I'm ready."

"Concentrate your power more towards the middle of the wall but not too far away from the 'offerings'." Tabitha explained.

As the duo levitated the bodies away, Louise mentally prepared herself again.

_'Okay, I got this.'_ Louise thought to herself. 

Getting her thoughts together, she jumped slightly at the touch of a hand gently grabbing her shoulder.

"You got this Louise." Kirche said comfortingly.

Louise then looked at Tabitha on her other side, who gave her a small smile and nodded.

"Okay, let's do this...FIREBALL!"

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone, so this is my first story ever! Well first story I ever posted online and I actually posted this early January on a few sites I'm more familiar with. It was supposed to be something I regularly updated when I started but unfortunately not long after my family got bit by a bat named Corona. But we're all alive and I have reconnected with my inner writer.


End file.
